State Rep. Phil Cavanagh, D-Redford Township, who leads the Workgroup on Mental Health and Physical Health Integration and Service Delivery, directed Monday's town hall event.Stephen Kloosterman/MLive.com

NORTON SHORES, MI – An area shortage of primary care physicians, a problem in finding funding to treat mental health patients and a lack of preventive care are among loopholes in health care provided by public agencies, according to participants in a Monday town hall meeting.

A public meeting of a state work group at Ross Park Elementary School was meant to gather information about problems in public health programs, like Medicaid, or community mental health organizations.

“We would be able to grow right now, if we could find more primary care physician time to add to our clinic,” he said.

Julia Rupp, Community Mental Health Executive Director, said there was a need for more preventive health care, including psych screenings for children.

“We have to look at prevention and early interventions,” she said.

Several attendees talked about struggles in finding help for people who need mental health care but are not on Medicaid, don’t have other insurance, or aren't deemed enough of a suicide risk in order to qualify for publicly-funded treatment.

Rupp said she hoped the meeting would result in better customer service for patients, making it easier for them to qualify for services

“The idea is to not make people keep going through different doors … and different assessments,” she said.